


Copper Mountain

by sirimiriii



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Minor Spoilers, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:57:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirimiriii/pseuds/sirimiriii
Summary: Set prior to the events of Red Dead Redemption 2. In Copper Mountain, Eliza lives with her son by outlaw Arthur Morgan.





	Copper Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy, this little story came to me in a rush. We will never know how Arthur really felt about Eliza, aside from him saying she was a good kid, but here's a look about what might have been. Please enjoy!

Copper Mountain wasn’t Eliza’s first choice nor her second either, but circumstance had brought her here, living on a meager waitress’ salary at the saloon. She supposed it wasn’t all bad though; living this sort of life had brought one Arthur Morgan into her orbit and given them a son they called Isaac. Isaac was a good boy and Eliza loved him. She knew Arthur did too, the way he came around any chance he could get. Isaac loved his father, the sunshine dimmed by his smile as he set sights on him. It heartened her, even though everyone she knew warned against him. She didn’t care. She would never care, in fact. Arthur ran with a gang and that was just a fact of his life. It was how he earned the money to help them and it had given him a family. How could that be wrong?

 

Last she saw him, he was with a member of his gang, a man called John, and they even seemed like brothers, bickering like two little boys. She just smiled. She was glad he had love when he was out there. That was important to her. She knew that the nature of her relationship with him was the subject of gossip: a young girl of nineteen impregnated and then left by an outlaw. But Arthur didn’t abandon them. He came back and he even told she and Isaac were his family. That made her happy.

 

“If I ever stop coming round, Dutch knows to send somebody.” Arthur told her his next visit. “I don’t want Isaac thinking I don’t love him.”

 

She smiled. “Isaac will never think you don’t love him. I tell him every day.”

 

He took his turn to smile, eyes straying over to where their son, his joy, slept peacefully. He helped her let out a small house on the edge of town, promising her one day he would get them somewhere further south. (Copper Mountain’s winters could be brutal. The previous winter a girl she knew sickened and died over it.) She dreamed a nice house in Saint Denis or even just one like she already had.

 

“Dutch hates the south,” Arthur admitted on one of his visits, “but I’ll get you to Saint Denis. That’s my promise to you.”

 

Eliza trusted him implicitly. There was also a part of her that loved him not only because he was so good to them and loved their son. It came from the passion sparked that night they conceived Isaac. Deep down, she knew she could say she loved him, but she knew better than to hope for anything else. She enjoyed their companionship anyway. It didn’t matter to her to have a man. It never had, though she was sad when he left and looked forward to his next visit. Those visits were starting to get further and further apart, his gang roving around and outrunning the law. The money came though, tucked away in little trinkets he sent her way.

 

“Your man does right by you,” said another waitress.

 

Eliza didn’t bother to correct her. If folks thought he was her man, that was all right.

 

That night, she put Isaac to bed, smoothing the sandy hair he’d inherited from his father. Her boy looked up at her, sleepily content. She smiled and kissed his forehead. Then she got into her own bed, falling asleep quick as she always did.

 

A sound woke her.

 

She sat up, confused in the haze of sleep. Then she noticed the door was open and at least one man was standing there. She pulled her blankets to her throat, terrified, and cast a look over at Isaac. He was awake too; in the light of the moon, she saw his eyes were wide with the same terror she felt all over.

 

“Where’s your money?” The stranger demanded. “I want it all.”

 

“Mister, I don’t have a lot.” She was surprised by the calm in her voice, but she didn’t want Isaac’s fear to heighten. “Please. You’re frightening my boy.”

 

“I don’t care.” He stood over, yanking her out of bed. “Where’s your money?”

 

“Momma!” Isaac cried.

 

“I’ll give you everything I have, mister, but it’s not – it isn’t much, I swear to you.”

 

Two more men loomed in the doorway.

 

Her heart constricted.

 

*

 

The sun beat down on his back, the sky cloudless. Arthur was in good spirits, as always, when he made his way to Copper Mountain. It was a sullen little town, but he felt happy there when he was with Eliza and Isaac. He was carrying more money than usual this time, ready to fulfil his promise. Eliza’s dream was to live in Saint Denis and live in Saint Denis she would. His visits would be even more spaced out, especially once Dutch and Hosea secured some land out West, but they would manage. By that time, Eliza might even be convinced to join him.

 

He wanted her to join him. He always had, but he felt the camp didn’t have quite the environment a town provided. There were no other kids for Isaac to play with. It would be a difficult existence for him. Not to mention he liked knowing they would never be tied to the gang’s deeds. True, everyone in Copper Mountain knew him for what he was, but they also knew Eliza. That was her saving grace.

 

He began the descent into the little bowl where Copper Mountain was nestled in the mountains. He breathed in that fresh air, like he always did, and then he kicked Boadicea into a run. As soon as Isaac spotted him from the window, he would be outside to greet him by the time he reached the house.

 

Then he saw them: two crosses, side by side.

 

“No,” he said aloud.

 

He pulled Boadicea to a stop, staring the crosses down. _It can’t be_ , he thought, _not them_. But he knew. He didn’t know how, but he knew. The grief was going to overtake him, so his only solution was to outrun it, like he did everything else. So he did. He pulled on Boadicea ’s reins (she nickered curiously, probably wondering why she wasn’t getting her customary apple from Eliza) and started back the way he came as if the Devil himself was chasing him.

 

He only ever admitted to himself that he loved Eliza. She was the first woman he ever loved, though he always felt it was because of Isaac. She had given him the best gift in the world, after all. But it wasn’t all of it. He always knew, but he kept her and Isaac away from gang life. He wanted them to have the best life. However, their lives had abruptly ended anyway. If he’d been there …

 

_No_ , he told himself, _I can’t go down that road. There’s no turning back._

 

He couldn’t help it, though. If they were in camp, might they have been saved? Later, he would learn that it was likely, considering the manner of their death. It wasn’t sickness. They were killed for a paltry amount of money: Eliza never had much. The money he sent was always immediately spent on food, clothing and anything else she needed to support their son.

 

Had their murderers seen Eliza with his money and made assumptions as to how wealthy she was?

 

Arthur would never know. Dutch always taught them never to fall victim to revenge, so even though he was burning with that desire, he didn’t. He refused to even look into them. He closed that chapter of his life. The others cottoned on quickly, their names never spoken in camp again.

 

He remembered them though; the woman he loved and his son. If he ever found love again, he would fight for it harder. He would, most importantly, tell her. The knowledge that Eliza died without knowing the complexity of his feelings was possibly one of the hardest things to deal with.

 

He would never make that mistake again.

 

 

 

 


End file.
